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I think it's obvious what he should do if he's smart. Focus troops in the southeast. Destroy the Azov Regiment. Take their uniforms, patch, flags, make a big sh

I think it's obvious what he should do if he's smart. Focus troops in the southeast. Destroy the Azov Regiment. Take their uniforms, patch, flags, make a big show of it on all media. Claim mission accomplished. "We de-Nazified Ukraine!" Set up a base on the Azov, withdraw other forces to 2014 borders. Commit $x billion in rebuilding aid and payments to families in Ukraine, once sanctions are lifted and currency exchange returns to Feb 25th levels so they can afford it. Prosecute a few token scapegoats domestically for war crimes (anyone for whom the evidence would make it politically impossible not to). Ukraine will never trust them. But it's enough to take the pressure off, and enough for him to remain in power.

dekhn 5y ago
It does seem like if he's just invaded donbas he could have gotten away with it. Having watched the previous fall of the soviet union eventually enough people in moscow get pissed off and there is a regime change, although I suspect putin has control of the apparatus and security forces. So, we might just see a Russia civil war.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  One thing that I've never seen discussed is the notion that the incident to break the 75-year "not nuking anybody" streak the world has been on could well be a civil war in a nuclear state, in which the side in control of the notional military apparatus sees no other way our of losing.
  - torstenvl 5y ago
    Luckily, people like Eric Swalwell - the Congressman who proposed using nuclear weapons against Americans who resist gun confiscation - are few and far between.
    - munk-a 5y ago
      ... In a tweet, that was pretty clearly a troll[1]. It's important to clarify that he never seriously proposed the measure. 1. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/eric-swalwell-gun-owners-nukes/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/eric-swalwell-gun-owners-n...
      - lupire 5y ago
        Of course he didn't "propose" it. There is nothing to propose until the war starts.

dekhn 5y ago

It does seem like if he's just invaded donbas he could have gotten away with it. Having watched the previous fall of the soviet union eventually enough people in moscow get pissed off and there is a regime change, although I suspect putin has control of the apparatus and security forces. So, we might just see a Russia civil war.

InitialLastName 5y ago
One thing that I've never seen discussed is the notion that the incident to break the 75-year "not nuking anybody" streak the world has been on could well be a civil war in a nuclear state, in which the side in control of the notional military apparatus sees no other way our of losing.
- torstenvl 5y ago
  Luckily, people like Eric Swalwell - the Congressman who proposed using nuclear weapons against Americans who resist gun confiscation - are few and far between.
  - munk-a 5y ago
    ... In a tweet, that was pretty clearly a troll[1]. It's important to clarify that he never seriously proposed the measure. 1. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/eric-swalwell-gun-owners-nukes/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/eric-swalwell-gun-owners-n...
    - lupire 5y ago
      Of course he didn't "propose" it. There is nothing to propose until the war starts.